This year, the creation of Addison and Peabody scholars will add another two ‘scholar’ opportunities for Andover students. Student scholars will work parallel to the existing Oliver Wendell Holmes Library (OWHL) Scholars, Community and Multicultural Development Scholars (CaMD), and the Brace Fellows and Sustainability Fellows, who present in the following year.
The scholar will be given the opportunity in researching a topic relating to American art or visual culture. Rachel Vogel, the director of the Addison Gallery, commented on what she looks forward to with the new addition of the Addison Scholar.
“While the Addison only has a few hundred works from our collection on view at any given time, we have nearly 30,000 artworks in our collection spanning the history of American art, more than our staff could ever hope to do in-depth research on. There is so much potential for interesting and exciting research using these objects, and I’m excited for the Addison Scholar to teach us at the Addison more about the works in our own collection,” said Vogel.
She continued, “One unique aspect of the Addison Scholar program is that the student has the chance to work directly with original artworks, developing their visual and formal analysis skills and learning how to use artworks as primary sources for their research.”
Lainie Schultz, the Curator of Education at the Peabody Institute, also provided insight into how the Peabody’s new addition to the scholars program would be beneficial to students. The Peabody Scholar will research topics related to Native American and Indigenous Studies.
“I believe the Peabody can complement the existing programs while making a unique contribution of its own, in offering a program specifically devoted to research in Native American and Indigenous Studies. It’s exciting to be able to give this to our future scholars,” said Schultz.
She added, “I’m already impressed by the level of awareness of and interest in issues related to Indigenous peoples that I have seen exhibited by Phillips Academy students. This program will hopefully encourage this awareness and interest while building students’ familiarity with Indigenous research methods.”
Camille Torres Hoven, director of the OWHL, talked about improvements to the application process, such as an increased focus on applicants’ ideas. She also discussed that while listening to a lecture can be beneficial for gaining knowledge, the programs grant the opportunity to students to follow their passions in an independent manner.
“[The programs] differ from a classroom in many different ways as you’re working independently. You’re working with a faculty advisor or a mentor or some kind of liaison, and you’re really working by yourself. We might give you guidance but you’re really on your own, we’re not going to lecture you on a subject. If it’s a history topic, I’m not going to sit here and tell you all about the Haitian Revolution. You’re going to have to find out all about the Haitian Revolution and then do your work. We help you pick sources, we help you find that research, but it’s all done by yourself. And there is no grade attached. It’s really about the work that you put into it and you’re not going to feel great if you don’t put together something wonderful. It’s all about what your passion is, which I think is really fun,” said Torres Hoven.
Allegra Lee ’27, an applicant for the OWHL scholar program, agrees that this program represents a departure from the traditional academic classroom. She further sees this program as an excellent opportunity for her to learn more about dancing, one of her passions.
“[The program gives you] the ability to just focus on something, be very all into it and just become an expert in your fields. I’ve never really had the opportunity to do that. As an Andover student, I’m juggling so many things, and it’s not easy to be focused on something that I’m passionate about, and only solely do that… That’s something I’d like to exercise. Another thing is just growing my love for learning, because I know I’m going to learn. I will hopefully become pretty knowledgeable about my topic. And even if my project doesn’t get accepted, the preliminary stages of research can help you find all sorts of really cool things,” said Lee.
